


Tempus

by lrceleste



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Humor, M/M, Modern Girl in Thedas
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-27
Updated: 2016-03-27
Packaged: 2018-05-29 12:19:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6374521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lrceleste/pseuds/lrceleste
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dorian Pavus is a successful student, feeling the pressure from his parents to marry the perfect girl they already have picked out for him, and there’s only so much time he can waste. Until some of his research comes back with a result and consequence he certainly wasn’t expecting.</p><p>A cliché Modern Girl in Thedas fic. Only the 'Modern Girl' is Dorian, and he has no idea what's happening...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I started writing this a while ago and posting it on Tumblr as my answer to all of the ‘Modern girl in Thedas’ fics that had been appearing in the Adoribull tag. ‘Modern Dorian in Thedas’.
> 
> I'm bad at thinking of titles...

Study had always been both an enjoyment, and an excuse, but as of late it had become more commonly the latter. Research had not returned any new results for some time, and with no rising need to remain in the field, and more importantly away from his parents, their insistence for his return had become more and more urgent.

His laptop had been silenced long ago as he scanned over the amulet he’d already inspected a million times. The little call icon popping up periodically even though he’d set his skype to away. He’d been working on deciphering the ancient amulet for months, but right then _anything_ other than the multiple calls from his parents demanded his full attention.

Dorian had unmuted and reluctantly answered the fifth skype call, an angry message from his mother sitting in between the missed calls.

**_Aquinea Thalrassian:_ **

**Dorian we are not stupid, we can see you changing your status to away. _13:42_**

The fact that both of his parents appeared on video chat explained immediately the kind of conversation this was to be. There weren’t many areas in which his parents agreed, but one such area was the issue of Dorian’s marriage arrangements. There wasn’t even a hello which emphasised the type of conversation it would be.

“Dorian we know you have been avoiding your responsibilities.” His father began. “We have sources.”

Because apparently studying on the other side of the world still wasn’t enough to remove himself from his parents’ watchful eyes. “I’ve been busy with study, you know how-”

“Pig shit.” His mother spat.

“Aquinea.” His father hissed.

“Do not Aquinea me. Dorian, you have wasted too long on studies, and you may waste as much time as you wish, _after_ you have married, and _after_ there is a child on the way. We have sent many fine girls to you, and you have turned every one of them away.”

“Mother, it’s not that simple-…”

“Save it for someone with patience, I have heard every one of your excuses before. We have given you every opportunity and you have thrown it back in our faces, until you prove to us that you are not wasting our every breath, you are cut off completely.”

“Mother?! I’m a student, you’ve already cut my allowance, I’ve been living off noodles and rice, and you plan to take away even that?!”

“We will return your allowance when you announce the engagement.” His father concurred.

“That’s completely unfair!” Dorian protested.

“I agree wholeheartedly with your mother. We hope to hear from you again soon.”

Dorian slammed the laptop shut, kicking away the stool he had been sat on, and not at all caring when it crashed it to ground. There was usually nobody around the university at this time of night anyway. Of course this was the one occasion when he was wrong.

“That kind of chat?” Felix asked, arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the door frame.

“One of those fucking conversations.” Dorian hissed.

“Oh shit, one of _those_ conversations.” Felix clarified, and Dorian couldn’t help but smile slightly, it was so rare that Felix cursed. “What did they say this time?”

“They’ve cut me off.”

“I thought they already had.”

“They cut my allowance, they stopped paying the rent, but now they’ve stopped everything. They’ll reinstate it when I announce the engagement.”

“Well you see this could all be solved easily.” Felix pondered.

“If you tell me to marry a lesbian again I swear…”

“No, you announce your engagement. It takes your parents a while to travel here; by the time they get here you’re already rolling in it and neglect to inform them about your future husband.”

Dorian gave a bark of a laugh. “Oh because I’m certain that would go down well. You realise they expect grandchildren, and the adopted variety simply will not do… You have it so easy.”

“Yeah, I do.” He admitted. “Any luck with that necklace of yours?”

“None at all. We’ve run it through all kinds of tests and the results are phenomenal, purely because we can’t get any results, the moment we put it near the equipment it ceases to function.”

“That’s… Yeah that’s interesting, what’s messing with the equipment then, electromagnetic field?”

“That’s what we assumed, but no tests for an electromagnetic field have come back positive. We can’t quite figure what it is that’s disrupting the equipment.”

“Magic?” Felix joked.

“Certainly easier to explain than this.” Dorian laughed.

“Can I take a look?”

Dorian nodded as he took a sip from his cooling cup of coffee, pulling a face when he tasted to lukewarm liquid. “You have to wear gloves though, we all do; it’s health and safety gone mad.”

Felix turned the amulet over in his palm several times inspecting it thoroughly. “Have you translated the Latin?”

“It’s not Latin.” Dorian sighed. “Trust me I’ve tried to decipher it, but it’s some bastardised version no-one has ever heard of. The image though, I recognise that. Google was ever helpful though.” He added sarcastically.

“Perhaps you were searching for the wrong thing. Did you search for the Alexius crest?” Felix asked, his eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

“Pardon? Your family crest?”

“Just do it.” He instructed and Dorian did as told, opening up his laptop and searching for the family crest. Felix placed the amulet in Dorian’s open palm and sure enough there it was the exact image that was imprinted onto the underside of the amulet.

“Well, any idea what the fuck this thing is?” Dorian asked.

“I’d have told you before now if I had any idea. Wow, this is from my family. Somewhere way back one of my family members made this.”

“Would your father know?”

“I imagine he’s still in the Physics department now if you wanted to ask, you know what he’s like. He’s been waiting for you to go visit him. Just because you’re a master of history doesn’t mean you can forget your first degree.”

“Don’t say it like that; you make me sound like such a dick.” Dorian argued.

“When have I claimed you were anything else?” Felix laughed.

“Such friends I have. You know if I had a-”

“Dorian!” Felix cried, stepping back. “The amulet!”

Dorian held up the necklace, now emitting a green glow. “It’s- it’s functioning! It’s doing something! I need to document this.” He said hurriedly trying to find some paper with which he could notes about the nature of the amulet and how it was reacting.

“Dorian, you said everyone has to wear gloves.”

“Yes.” He answered before catching Felix’s meaning and looking down at his own bare hands. “Shit. But other researchers touched it in the beginning, it did nothing.”

“Dorian it’s getting bigger.” Sure enough the glow was pouring from it now, like liquid, the turquoise glow flowing over the table, shifting. “I’m going to find help.”

“Yes, be quick, and I’ll try and stop whatever the hell this is.”

Felix nodded and ran from the room, leaving Dorian alone with the amulet. Damn it all, he’d been studying it for months with no advancements, and the moment he was prepared to give up it did… Whatever the hell this was. The light moved with a mind of its own, licking at the air and shifting, it looked like something from a science fiction film, from a fantasy, it looked like-like…

The second of pause was too long. The light had reached out to him, a glowing wisp hitting his arm. He pulled back in shock, yet even as he pulled away from the main source of light, the glowing on his arm still remained, streaming towards his hand. He tried to swat it away with his free hand but the light spread, dancing over his fingers as it sat in the palm of his hand.

“Dorian?” Felix called from the corridor.

“Felix, don’t come in!”

“Dorian-…” He began but fell silent when his eyes fell upon the scene. “Dorian what’s happening?!”

“I-I don’t know... But, I think I know what I’m supposed to do, to make it work.”

“How?!”

“I don’t know, but it’s like, like I’ve seen it before, used it before.”

“Dorian, shit, what you’re saying doesn’t make sense.” Felix stepped into the room, but Dorian raised his hand and he collided with something, something he could only just see, but was most certainly there. Felix was stunned for a moment, his hands against the wall that was seemingly made of blue light, as he watched his friend glow with energy.

“Dorian, as cool as that was, this isn’t good. You need to stop.” He argued against the barrier that held him back, his palms pressed against it.

He could only watch as Dorian raised his hand to the amulet, the light glowing at his fingertips as the amulet rose from the bench, the light swirling around it as it spun in the air.

“Sorry Felix. I have to know. After all it was you that guessed it… Magic.” Dorian muttered, his voice distorted by the wall between them.

Then Dorian flicked his wrist and the room flashed green, so bright that Felix had to shield his eyes, and then his hand was falling through the barrier as if nothing was there. True to his thoughts, when he opened his eyes, nothing was there, no Dorian, no amulet, the room was empty and silent, but for the quiet ringing of a Skype call from Dorian’s laptop.


	2. Chapter 2

Dorian’s head pounded, a constant throbbing against his skull, his mouth a desert, and a sudden lurch in his stomach had him groaning, all before he’d even opened his eyes. It was truly a testament to the night before that he couldn’t even remember leaving the lab.

Ah, but of course he remembered his parents, cutting off his funds and near forcing him to marry. Hardly a surprise that he couldn’t remember anything after that, the best way to forget about expectations was heavy drinking.

“You’re alive then?” A man asked, and Dorian stifled his groan, as he opened his eyes slowly. This was most certainly not his house. Evidently his drunken self hadn’t the sense to leave before the awkward morning after.

Finally drawing his eyes away from the old-fashioned bare stone wall and thatched roof, he looked to the man who had spoken, and fuck, had he been _that_ drunk?! The man before him was in his late fifties, and certainly not a looker, a couple of teeth gone, hairline barely existent. Surely not.

“Is he awake?” A woman’s voice called through from another room in the house, and he knew he can’t have been drunk enough for _that_.

“Woah it’s alright, don’t panic.” The man encouraged, laying a hand on Dorian’s shoulder. “We found you, you’ve been out of it a while.”

That really shouldn’t have calmed Dorian as much as it did. “Where am I?”

“Outskirts of Redcliffe.” The man answered with a smile.

“Ah, and where exactly is Redcliffe? Which county is Redcliffe in?”

“County?” The man asked, and it was only then that Dorian took him in fully in all his frankly ridiculous clothing. The woman entered the room, in the same ridiculous medieval attire, and the stone and thatch seemed to make slightly more and much less sense in equal measures.

“What is going on here?” Dorian asked uncertainly.

“Well, really we should be asking you that.” The woman stated as she set down a bowl of thick broth. A wooden bowl. Who the fuck had wooden bowls?!

“I mean what is this? Why are you dressed like- like that?”

The man scowled down at him. “Did you hit yer head when you came… Wherever the fade you’re from?”

“Don’t push him Erold.” The woman stated, gripping her husband’s arm. “I told you, he’s a demon, or one of them damn mages.”

Dorian could only sit there a moment, mouth hanging open as he tried to make sense of the words. He’d give her points for acting that was for sure, it was a very convincing display, he’d also give her points for crazy however. When Dorian swallowed, he finally gave his response, “I don’t know where I am or what this is, Medieval fancy dress or LARP-ing or whatever you call it, I did not sign up. And I’m not best pleased that I wasn’t taken to a hospital if I was so severely unconscious that I have no memory of any of this.”

“You see, he’s talking nonsense.” The woman whispered loud enough that it was audible to Dorian.

“ _I’m_ talking nonsense?!”

“We found you by the road, you just, you seemed to fall right out of a rift, but it shut right behind you.” The man, Erold, insisted. “We thought you were like that Herald everyone’s talking ‘bout.”

“Of course, very expressive, lovely characters, both of you, but if you could tell me where I am and how I could return to the University that would be fantastic.” Dorian demanded, patience begging to wear thin.

“University?”

“Are you American? College?” Dorian attempted.

“The nearest college is in Denerim.”

“Denerim? Where the bloody hell is Denerim? I’m looking for Cambridge; surely you must have heard of Cambridge, everybody has.”

“I haven’t.” Erold argued.

“He’s Tevinter, look at him.” The woman Dorian assumed must be his wife scoffed. “Should have stayed in Tevinter.”

“What did you say, Tevinter? Is that some new slur nowadays? It’s a good job I’m not easily offended, but I’ll have you know I am a British national. I have every right to be here.”

“What in the Maker’s name are you going on about?” Erold asked.

Dorian climbed from the bed, pausing for only a moment to be horrified by the clothes he was wearing. Fists clenched at his sides he slowly explained through clenched teeth, “I need to get home, I have no idea where the fuck I am, and you both just keep on talking about utter shit. Now if you’ll excuse me.”

He walked past the couple, both of them stepping briskly out of the way, as the woman cried, “He is one of them mages, look at his hand. Erold we brought one of those rebels into the house.”

Dorian humoured her for a moment and looked down at his still clenched fist, before trying his hardest to jump away from his own hand as he caught sight of the fire there. “What the fuck is this?!”

Erold stepped forward, but Dorian held up his hands, one of them still burning with fire that didn’t cause any pain, as he yelled, “Don’t come any fucking closer! I don’t know how, or why, or- I just don’t understand what the fuck is going on! But if you take one step closer I’ll- I’ll use this thing!” He cursed shaking his flaming fist.

“Just leave!” The woman commanded, and Dorian, for perhaps once in his life, did as he was told and fled from the house, dressed in a cream gown, and feet bared.

The door opened to lush green and tall trees, the middle of a god damned forest in bum-fuck nowhere. He looked to the sky to get a bearing and as if everything so far hadn’t been confusing and horrifying enough. A crack, a green crack in the sky. Green like-

Green like the amulet he’d been studying, like the light that had poured from it, that had crawled over his skin.

Dorian looked down to his hand, the fire was gone now, but he could remember the magic gripping him, telling him what to do. And now he was- now he…

Well shit.


	3. Chapter 3

He hadn’t dared re-enter the house, and so he had pushed forward, stepping carefully over rocks and the like, cursing his lack of proper footwear, until he found a path. Dorian took a deep breath and chose a direction to follow, hoping that it wouldn’t lead him further into the forest.

As he wandered he held his palm, trying hesitantly to recreate the fire that hadn’t burnt him. The sun was beginning to set when he had full control of it, he could make it appear at his will, control it, fire it like a weapon, close his fist and extinguish it all.

Well, at least his parents couldn’t force him to marry if he was trapped in what appeared to be an alternate dimension.

“Hault!” A woman’s voice cried, and Dorian stopped dead in his tracks. The woman who had spoken stood ahead, two men by her side, all three of them dressed in quite ridiculous robes. Mages, Dorian could only assume after his only encounter with life in this world, and he furiously hoped these ones were friendly, he didn’t think his tiny fires would stand against these three.

“State your business.” One of the men demanded.

“I want to get to Redcliffe. I have nothing.” Dorian stated.

“Redcliffe is under the control of the rebel mages. We cannot allow you to pass.” The woman argued, looking over Dorian’s attire with a raised eyebrow.

“I’m a mage.” Dorian reasoned despite how ridiculous that sounded, before adding hesitantly, “I’ve come from- from Tevinter?”

The three all looked to one another, and then to his attire before commanding, “State your name, we’ll run it past the Tevinters.”

“Dorian Pavus.” He answered slowly.

The woman nodded and beckoned him forward. “Come with us, we’ll find you some clothing.”

“Oh thank god, some lunatics kidnapped me, they must have taken everything.”

Dorian followed them down a winding hill into a settlement, what he assumed must be Redcliffe. The mages spoke amongst themselves, but Dorian couldn’t help but overhear as one of them asked, “Should we run him by the Alexius kid, _he_ doesn’t give me the shits?”

“I’m sorry.” Dorian cut in, “Did you say Alexius? Yes, take me to _him_ , I desperately need to speak to an Alexius.”

“Well then you’re in luck.” One of the men laughed, pointing to an extraordinarily familiar figure.

“Felix?!” Dorian cried in confusion, sure enough the man turned, his eyes eventually falling on Dorian. Felix was still for a moment and then he ran forward pushing past the mages, flinging his arms wide, pulling Dorian into a death grip.

“Kaffas Dorian! What are you doing here?!”

“I don’t know, I was hoping you could tell me. I woke up and I didn’t know if this was some Game of Thrones rip-off or what, but this is all extremely confusing, and- _And what the hell are you wearing_?!”

“What are _you_ wearing?” He countered, but answered anyway. “It’s a long story. They’re Venatori robes, I don’t know how much you know but I need your help. Dorian, the amulet...”

“Oh thank god someone around here understands! How did you get here? You were outside of the shield?”

“I- Dorian what are you talking about?”

Dorian stepped away from Felix for a moment, “In the lab, you must remember, after all you remember the amulet.”

“Did- Did you use the amulet?” Felix asked slowly.

“Of course, you… You travelled with me right?” Felix shook his head slowly.

“Dorian, we need to talk in private, there are things I need to tell you, my father…”

“Felix…”Dorian began cautiously, as his friend grabbed his wrist to pull him to privacy. “What year is this?”

“Year? Dorian are you alright, did you truly use the amulet?”

“Please Felix just tell me what year this is.”

“9:41, dragon.” He answered slowly.

Dorian screwed up his face as he asked, “What does that even mean?”

“You’re not okay, are you?”

“ _Okay?!_ What about this is okay?! I can set my hand on fire at will, this city is under control of ‘rebel mages’ a man pulled me out of a ‘rift’ and didn’t know what Cambridge was, they were using a wooden bowl! A _wooden bowl!_ Felix you’re supposed to be the one thing that understands me, please tell me you understand me?!”

“I think we need to go somewhere private, get you some clothes and talk about what happened.”

-

The clothes he was given weren’t something he would normally wear, largely due to the fact that they were robes, not like the ones he’d seen the mages wearing that had essentially been dresses, but they contained a fair amount of leather, detailed patterns. Felix assured him it was up to his usual standards, and that it would help him blend in somewhat. He was presented with something that looked comfortingly like tea. It wasn’t quite right, the tea slightly bitter, but he’d watched Felix stir in two sugars and smiled because even if Felix didn’t know what had happened, at least Felix knew _him_.

“So..?” Felix began when they were both seated in the bedroom of an inn, Felix perched on the bed, and Dorian relaxing in one of the seats by the fire. Felix liked pale and thin, Dorian hadn’t seen him like that since…

“Are you well?”

Felix gave a short laugh, “I thought we were here to talk about what’s happened to you?”

“You know I’d never pass up an opportunity to speak about myself, but… The Felix I knew was, to put it mildly, extremely sick for a long time, but eventually it was cured, against all odds. Are you..?”

“I’m dying.” Dorian swallowed away the lump in his throat. “I don’t know about your Felix, but there’s no cure for this.”

“But we have magic, surely there must be something?!”

Smiling Felix muttered, “You know, that’s almost exactly what you said to me when you found out. Which actually ties in well with what I wanted to speak to you about, my father has gone mad trying to find a cure, and he’s joined a cult who call themselves the Venatori. Let’s just say they’re bad news and this world isn’t safe so long as they function.”

“And I thought the Alexius I knew had gone mad with grief.”

“There’s more, you… You helped him partly, you didn’t know what he’d do with the power, you didn’t even know it would work, but the two of you found a way to time travel, my father perfected it. There’s an amulet the two of you-”

“An amulet?! With the Alexius family crest on it?”

“I’m not sure, he doesn’t let it out of his sight lest it fall into the wrong hands, you know of it?”

“I’d bet that’s the amulet that sent me here!”

“So you’re from the future?” Felix asked hesitantly. “Trust it to be you.”

“I doubt it, considering you and I are alive in this timeline and the next, it’s most likely an alternate reality. What do you know of this worlds Dorian?”

“You were an enchanter, a researcher, even though you hated circles growing up and preferred to learn on your own. Your mother and father were pressuring you to marry so you ran away. You like men.”

“Well that certainly sounds like me.”

“You specialise in necromancy.”

“That’s… I suppose that’s the end of the similarities. There’s no magic in my world.”

“No- None what so ever?!” Felix spluttered. “But if you didn’t have magic then what did you study?!”

“Physics, and history, you were a mathematics graduate, the cancer stopped you in your tracks a little, but you’re going for your doctorate now.”

“Maths,” Felix laughed, “That sounds about right.”

“Shit Felix,” Dorian sighed, “How did this even happen?”

“I don’t know, but we’ll find a way to send you back to your world.”

“Thank you Felix, whilst I’m here I might as well make the best of it.”

“First things first, we need to figure out a way to stop my father.”

“And this… Magic?” Dorian asked, still worried over the fact that his hand may have a tendency to spontaneously combust.

“Don’t worry, I’ll help you out but I’m sure it’ll come naturally. You’re Dorian Pavus after all.”


End file.
